That Decree was Fatal

Blurb:

When a serial killer shows up on Longboat Key, Florida after a 12 year absence, Matt Royal is stymied.  The first woman killed on Longboat Key has ties to a secretive government agency for which Matt's best friend Jock Algren works.  Was this a coincidence or was she a targeted kill? Matt's friend, Longboat Key detective Jennifer Dane (J.D) Duncan investigates the murders but also seems to be a target of the killer.  Why? And where has the killer been for the past 12 years? And why has he come to Longboat Key when his earlier kills were all in Miami?  The mystery deepens when Guatemalan gang-bangers try to kill Matt and J.D and suspicions grow that Mexican drug cartels are somehow involved.  The director of Jock's agency orders him to do whatever is necessary to find the killer because of the death of the woman with connections to the agency.  Will Jock simply take out the murderer or allow J.D and the law to arrest, try and convict the bad guys?  Matt's life is further complicated by J.D's growing dissatisfaction with island living and her thoughts of returning to Miami.

Review:

What at first glance is a simple murder mystery turns into something with many more sinister overtones.  What was one body becomes multiple bodies; anyone can be a potential target.  The story is cranked up from a single simple layer to multiple layers with the plot evolving at break neck speed wo much so that the tension is ratcheted up and resembles an elastic band about to break.

A well-paced, twister of a policed procedural thriller.  A very much a fly-by-the-seat-of-your pants story.  This novel is real easy to read and the short chapters further enhance the speed with which this novel travels.  The interest is kept right to the end and I defy you to guess who the killer is before then.

The two main characters were intriguing and well written but did we have to have the sexual tension and the ending was a big let-down for me but the rest was just WOW.  What I particularly like about Matt was that he was an avid reader and with what downtime he did have he was always reading a book (can we please have more characters like this).

Mostly written in the first person there are some chapters that are written in the third person so not only does the reader get matt's point of view but we also get the murder's point of view too (though without knowing who the murder is until the end).

This is a thinking reader's thriller with the psychological implications of each murder intact.  The her is not flash, but real and believable.  I whole heartedly recommend this book.

This can be read as a standalone novel but I will be going back to read the previous books in the series, possibly rereading this one in order and I will be on the lookout for future novels by this author; and this series in particular.

Full Disclosure: ARC received from Netgalley for an honest review.

I rated this book 4 stars on Netgalley and 'I like it ' on Amazon (4 stars) and 'I really liked it' on Goodreads (4 stars).